Archive for the ‘eric hosmer’ tag

Alex Gordon was one of the best defensive players in baseball, by any measure in 2014. photo 365rundown.com

Last year, I created a little spreadsheet upon the announcement of the Gold Glove winners, to see how they compared to various defensive metric leaders (2013 xls link here). And I threw in the “Fielding Bible” award winners, since that has now taken over as the “accepted” list of the year’s best defensive players, thanks to the Gold Gloves continuing to pick inexplicable players (this year’s repeat “I cannot believe he won” player again being Adam Jones). But, as we’ve seen, the Gold Gloves are getting better, and the days of picking someone like a statue-esque Derek Jeter and/or a nearly permanent DH in Rafael Palmeiro seem to now be over.

So, now that we’ve announced the 2014 Gold Glove winners, lets also look at the league leaders in various defensive metrics.

First, your 2014 Gold Glove winners: bold are also Fielding Bible winners, and red are the most egregiously bad selections.

Pos

AL GG Winner

NL GG Winner

C

Salvator Perez, CLE

Yadier Molina, STL

1B

Eric Hosmer, KC

Adrian Gonzalez, LAD

2B

Dustin Pedroia, BOS

DJ LeMahieu, COL

SS

J.J. Hardy, BAL

Andrelton Simmons, ATL

3B

Kyle Seager, SEA

Nolan Arenado, COL

LF

Alex Gordon, KC

Christian Yelich, MIA

CF

Adam Jones, BAL

Juan Lagares, NYM

RF

Nick Markakis, BAL

Jason Heyward, ATL

P

Dallas Keuchel, HOU

Zack Greinke, LAD

As with last year, the league still remains obsessed with Adam Jones despite his possessing negative defensive rankings across the board. Kyle Seager wasn’t “bad” but wasn’t nearly as deserving as Josh Donaldson. The only other real “bad” selection was Molina, not because he’s not a great defensive catcher (he is), but because he missed a ton of time and there were better options in the NL this year (namely, Jonathan Lucroy). Otherwise every Gold Glove winner listed here was deserving.

Here’s the 2014 Fielding Bible Awards, which (if you’re not aware) is a Bill James-driven website that uses a committee of national writers to select the winners (the site is here and you can read about their methodology). Bolded are also GG winners:

Pos

2014 Fielding Bible Winner

C

Jonathan Lucroy, MIL

1B

Adrian Gonzalez, LAD

2B

Dustin Pedroia, BOS (repeat)

SS

Andrelton Simmons, ATL (repeat)

3B

Josh Donaldson, OAK

LF

Alex Gordon, KC (repeat)

CF

Juan Lagares, NYM

RF

Jason Heyward, ATL

P

Dallas Keuchel, HOU

Util

Lorenzo Cain, KC

They selected Lucroy over Molina, and Donaldson over Seager. They’ve also added a 10th position for “Utility,” to recognize the excellent work of Lorenzo Cain playing multiple outfield positions.

Now, here’s the league leaders by various defensive stats. The links to get any of these leaderboards are in the Google xls. First: UZR/150.

Pos

AL UZR/150

NL UZR/150

C

1B

Albert Pujols, LAA (9.3)

Anthony Rizzo, CHC (8.2)

2B

Dustin Pedroia, BOS (20.4)

DJ LeMahieu, COL (11.0)

SS

J.J. Hardy, BAL (15.4)

Andrelton Simmons, ATL (18.4)

3B

Josh Donaldson, OAK (13.3)

Todd Frazier, CIN (8.9)

LF

Alex Gordon, KC (22.6)

Christian Yelich, MIA (14.1)

CF

Jackie Bradley JR, BOS (22.6)

Juan Lagares, NYM (25.3)

RF

Nori Aoki, KC (7.7)

Jason Heyward, ATL (20.5)

P

I like UZR as a measure and use it often. UZR/150 somewhat standardizes the scores across a 150-game average to represent the figure for a full-season for apples-to-apples comparisons. A good number of these leaders also earned Gold Gloves and/or Fielding Bible awards. Josh Donaldson was the clear AL 3B leader. Otherwise there’s a lot of similarities to the lists we’ve already seen. I was surprised as heck to see Albert Pujols on this leader board.

For a quick point of reference to the above scores, the BEST UZR/150 of any Nationals player this year was Anthony Rendon‘s uZR/150 of 4.6 while playing 3B. Span and LaRoche (our two GG finalists) both scored *negative* UZR/150 scores … perhaps an indictment of their nominations in general as being based on reputation and not actual on-field performance this year.

Next: DRS; Defensive Runs Saved. Some like this stat a lot; I struggle with it because single plays (like an outfielder reaching over the wall to take away a homer) result in huge swings in the numbers on plays that aren’t necessarily the hardest to make.

Pos

AL DRS

NL DRS

C

1B

Chris Davis, BAL (8)

Adrian Gonzalez, LAD (12)

2B

Ian Kinsler, DET (20)

DJ LeMahieu, COL (16)

SS

J.J. Hardy, BAL (10)

Andrelton Simmons, ATL (28)

3B

Josh Donaldson, OAK (20)

Nolan Arenado, COL (16)

LF

Alex Gordon, KC (27)

Christian Yelich, MIA (13)

CF

Leonys Martin, TEX (15)

Juan Lagares, NYM (28)

RF

Kole Calhoun, LAA (2)

Jason Heyward, ATL (32)

P

Dustin Pedroia had one of the highest UZR/150 ratings in the league … but he was not the top-rated 2nd baseman in the AL. We have our third different AL center fielder in three lists. Otherwise this is a pretty good list.

Next: FRAA: Fielding Runs Above Average, a Baseball Prospectus measure that attempts to remove the bias present in zone-based data and also tries to factor in the tendencies of the pitcher on the mound (ground-ball guy, fly-ball guy,

Pos

AL FRAA

NL FRAA

C

1B

Steve Pearce, BAL (7.7)

Adrian Gonzalez, LAD (11.4)

2B

Jason Kipnis, CLE (9.5)

Chase Utley, PHI (6.9)

SS

Alexei Ramierez, CWS (8.1)

Jean Segura, MIL (23.6)

3B

Kyle Seager, SEA (20.5)

Nolan Arenado, COL (14.3)

LF

Alex Gordon, KC (12.2)

Khris Davis, MIL (6.6)

CF

Jacoby Ellsbury, NYY (12.0)

Ender Inciarte, ARI (11.0)

RF

Kevin Kiermaier, TB (8.3)

Jason Heyward, ATL (26.4)

P

Dallas Keuchel, HOU (6.7)

Tyson Ross, SD (3.7)

Interestingly, Jean Segura shines highly here (the supposed “best defensive player in the league” Andrelton Simmons only scored a 10.0 in FRAA). And this stat really favors the play of some random players: I had no idea who Kevin Kiermaier or Ender Inciarte were before doing this post, nor did I know what position they played.

Adam Jones scored a -8.1 FRAA; ranking him 1187th out of 1212 players for 2014. I’m not kidding. That’s how bad a selection for the Gold Glove Jones was.

Last stat: Baseball Reference’s Total Zone Fielding

Pos

AL Total Zone Total Fielding

NL Total Zone Total Fielding

C

Salvator Perez, CLE (12)

Wilson Ramos, WAS (8)

1B

Steve Pearce, BAL (13)

Justin Morneau, COL (11)

2B

Jonathan Schoop, BAL (16)

Anthony Rendon, WAS (12)

SS

J.J. Hardy, BAL (14)

Jordy Mercer, PIT (21)

3B

Kyle Seager, SEA (23)

Chase Headley, SD/NYY (18)

LF

Alex Gordon, KC (25)

Khris Davis, MIL (13)

CF

Lorenzo Cain, KC (18)

Billy Hamilton, CIN (14)

RF

Kevin Kiermaier, TB (12)

Jason Heyward, ATL (30)

P

Check it out: our own Wilson Ramos is on this list as the “leader” for the NL. Which, no offense to Ramos, makes you question at least the catcher rankings for this stat. Rendon also factors in for his partial season at 2B. But overall, this seems like the least reliable defensive stat.

As mentioned above, both our GG finalists (LaRoche and Span) seem to have been nominated on reputation only; neither of them appeared near the top on any of these statistical measures (unlike last year, when Span at least was a leader in Total Zone)

Did I miss any good defensive metrics? Do you have one you like more or less than these? I know there’s other stats out there; I can update this analysis with more of them.

So, how did the Gold Gloves do this year in selecting the most deserving winners? Pretty good. Alex Gordon was the AL leader for left fielders in every stat. I think they picked the two correct short stops. Catchers are difficult to measure. They absolutely screwed up the AL Center fielder (though to be fair; there were four statistical measures presented and four different AL center field leaders. Excellent defensive players who jump around (Lorenzo Cain, Ben Zobrist) make the awards somewhat challenging in some cases.

As with years past … feel free to skip this post if you don’t care about fantasy. I know for certain that reading about someone elses’s fantasy sports team can be a bit grating. But, if you do play fantasy i’m sure you’ll at least appreciate reading the selections and then looking at the team’s strength analysis at the end.

I touched on the topic of High Schools who consistently generate talent briefly in January 2013, when I penned a post delving into the best players the State of Virginia has produced. II you’re interested in the best producing Virginia High Schools there’s a section in that January 2013 post on the topic. Despite having some significant talent come out of the state recently, there is no high school in our area that comes close to producing what some of these schools in Florida, California and Texas do. At the bottom here I’ll talk briefly about significant local schools.

Lets take a look at some of these baseball factories and look at some of the big-time talent they’ve produced lately. I’ll freely admit that this is mostly analysis of teams that have been good lately … but i’ve tried not to fall into the habit of picking a team that just happens to be good now by looking at the performances of these teams over the past 4-5 years. Suffice it to say; one class of great players can make a team very highly ranked for a year or two, but you need to consistently develop players to constantly be considered among the best programs in the country.

Here we go. In each case if they’re pre-season ranked I’ll use a quick short-hand so as not to repeat typing the same things over and over. (X,Y,Z) after each high school mean’s the team is pre-season ranked by in order by USA Today, Baseball America and Max Preps.

Archbishop McCarthy HS, Southwest Ranches, Fla (#1,7,1); They have won four consecutive Florida 6a titles and are the 2014 preseason#1 ranked team by USA-Today They’ve had no less than eight draftees in the last four drafts, including two first rounders (presumptive 3B starter in Detroit Nick Castellanos and Nick Travieso in 2012). This is a seriously good baseball program.

Harvard-Westlake HS in Studio City, California (Los Angeles) (7,8,7). Alma Mater of our own Lucas Giolito, but was also home to another 2012 first round pick Max Fried. Can you imagine a high school team with two first round pitching prospects? Also the alma mater of current MLBers Josh Satin and Brennan Boesch, both of whom were drafted out of Cal-Berkeley, and 2013 2nd round pick Austin Wilson out of Stanford. A good pedigree of recent high-end talent.

The Woodlands HS in The Woodlands, Texas (#29,NR,NR). Alma Mater to 2011 #2 overall pick Jamison Taillon and 2011 3rd round pitcher Bryan Brickhouse. More recently, home to 2013 3rd rounder Carter Hope. All three of these guys were big-time right-handed pitching prospects. Also home to two current MLBers: Kyle Drabek (a 2006 1st round pick) and Paul Goldschmidt (an 8th round pick after going to college). They’re a bit down this year, but have been highly ranked for years. Defending Texas 5-A champs, no small feat.

American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla. (#3,24,14). Began gaining notice after producing both #3 overall 2008 pick Eric Hosmer and (former) Nats prospect Adrian Nieto in 2008; since has produced another 6-8 draft prospects. Enters 2014 with a preseason #3 ranking from Usa-Today and should match up well with Archbishop McCarthy (if they are scheduled to play).

Owasso (Okla.) HS. (#4,4,2) 2014 Preseason USA-today #4 team who went 36-0 last season and returns seven starters. Recent alumni include two first round draftees in St. Louis’ Pete Kozma and the likely more impactful Dylan Bundy, Baltimore’s #1 prospect, who reached the majors by age 20 and is currently rehabbing a Tommy John injury.

Barbe HS, Lake Charles, LA (#8,6,6). Getting some pre-season 2014 credit thanks to a slew of Division 1-signed talent; had three players drafted from its 2010 team. Of local interest to yours truly because Lake Charles is where my wife hails from and where we go married.

Bishop Gorman HS, Las Vegas: (#12,13,9) his sports powerhouse is also routinely nationally ranked in Football and Basketball, and has matriculated a handful of local players lately (including supplemental 1st rounder Joey Gallo in 2012). They were the defending Nevada state champions seven times before losing in the final last year. This is not however the alma-mater of our own Bryce Harper: he went to Las Vegas HS, which doesn’t have nearly the alumni pedigree as Gorman.

Archbishop Moeller HS, Cincinnati (#17,30,10). Moeller has a very rich history; its alums include Buddy Bell and his sons, Ken Griffey Jr and Barry Larkin. They’ve had at least 11 alumni play pro-ball. And they’re back in the national scene, ranked #17 pre-season by USA-Today for 2014.

Rancho Bernardo, San Diego: (NR, #3, #24): this school’s nickname is “the Factory,” so I had to put it in here. Home to 3 current major leaguers (including Cole Hamels) and a whole slew of recent draftees.

Venice (Fla.) HS (#15,1,4). A johnny come-lately to the party: they’re also a defending Florida state champ (in a different class than Archbishop McCarthy) and are the #1 ranked pre-season team by Baseball America. Not a ton of alumni history here, but they are #1 in one of the three main publications i’m using as reference here.

Broken Arrow (Okla.) HS (NR,#15,NR): Broken Arrow had three members of its 2011 team picked, including upper 1st round talent Archie Bradley. They’ve had a few MLB alumni and are routinely in the latter stages of the Oklahoma state tournament.

St. Francis HS Mountain View, CA (#27,2,12): some interesting spread between the three rankings for St. Francis, based in Mountain View, CA. They have a slew of alumni currently playing college or pro ball and are #2 in Baseball America’s pre-season rankings for 2014.

Seton Hall Prep, West Orange NJ: (NR on any 2014 list) the rare cold-weather school with significant pro matriculation. Detroit’s Rick Porcello hails from Seton Hall Prep, though the most famous New Jersey native in the majors (Mike Trout) attended a different HS (Milleville HS) and is the first player from his HS to make the majors since the 1940s.

Some of the all-time great producing High Schools not already mentioned:

There’s a HS in Oakland called McClymonds that has two Hall of Fame alumni (Frank Robinson and Ernie Lombardi), a host of other famous names from 60s and 70s but which hasn’t generated a pro player since the mid 1970s. Per its wikipedia page it only has about 250 students now; I wonder if they even still field a baseball team.

Polytechnic HS in Long Beach (NR on any 2014 list) has 47 pro alumni but an astonishing 18 guys with MLB experience, headlined by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn and possibly future hall of famer Chase Utley.

Special Mention: the Puerto Rican Baseball Academy is technically a high school and easily has the highest number of drafted players (111 in baseball Cube’s records). Most recently, 1-1 pick Carlos Correa is an alumni, though he’s one of just two 1st rounders out of this school that I can see.

DC Area Local

Its hard to say if there’s a local “baseball factory” school; certainly one does not exist like the Florida and California schools mentioned here. But there are a couple of programs in the DC area who play significant schedules and who recruit heavily in the baseball circles:

Riverdale Baptist HS, Upper Marlboro MD. They have quite a few players in the NCAA ranks but few who have lasted long in the pros.

St. John’s HS (Washington, DC); they’ve had some recent draft success and have sent players to good schools.

Past these two schools, it does seem like certain local public programs are always doing well. Dematha is getting some national ranking mentions pre-season but doesn’t have the baseball pedigree that they have in Football and Basketball. Vienna programs Oakton and Madison HS are constantly in the mix locally and state-wide, a product of a fabulous youth program that feeds into both those schools. Finally, the two largest schools in the area (Lake Braddock and Robinson) routinely advance far in the regional tournaments, thanks in part to an enrollment that rivals some colleges. But they’re hardly “factories” like the above school, nor do they put out the kind of upper-end players that Florida and California schools can.

For some historical perspective, here’s a slew of links to pre- and post-season rankings that i’ve collected for the past few years, with #1 national team and any local schools noted.

2013 Baseball America final HS top 25 rankings: Harvard-Westlake #1. Virginia schools Madison and Great Bridge dropped out after losses in regional tourneys. VA State champ Hanover not ranked in the top 25 after their upset state championship.

TheBaseballCube.com: just search for players or schools; sometimes has better information than baseball-reference.com. Here is a direct link at Baseball Cube listing the number of alumni per high school in their database.

Andrelton Simmons put up what most consider the best defensive season of 2013. Photo via espn.go.com

The recent years have been a rise in all sorts of statistical analysis in the game of baseball (as we all know), and one of the more important areas of research has been the measurement and tracking of defensive metrics. The data we have at our disposal is not yet infallible, but the data has opened our eyes to the real impact that some major leaguers have on the defensive side of the ball.

We’re all quite familiar with the WAR-based arguments that have completely consumed last year’s AL MVP award voting as an example of modern statistics helping to shape the selection of a traditional award winner. However, up until 2013, the Gold Gloves remained an award that was given out without practically any consideration given to any advanced metric, and the awards have been embarassed in recent years with some amazingly inept selections. The two most laughable selections of recent memory were Rafael Palemeiro in 1999 (given a Gold Glove for his play at 1B despite the fact that he only played 28 games in the field that year) and Derek Jeter in 2010 (a year in which he posted a -5.1 UZR/150, was dead last among all 59 AL shortstops in Total Zone Total Fielding and had the selection was openly mocked by the normally staid Baseball-Reference.com website). Even the more defensible gold gloves over the past few years have been considered “wrong” by the stat-crowd, to the point where a number of national writers openly mock the awards and go out of their way to “ignore” th em.

This concerns me as a fan, and as someone who is keenly interested in the Hall of Fame merits of players. I absolutely believe that when it comes time to judge players on the whole of their careers, that individual awards such as the Gold Gloves, MVP and Cy Young awards matter. I want these awards to be relevant and properly awarded.

Two things have happened lately that give me hope:

Bill James and a varied panel of baseball writers, statisticians in the field and former players now vote on The FieldingBible awards each year. The 2013 Fielding Bible awards are not league specific; they recognize the best in the majors at each position each year.

The Gold Glove award committee for the first time in 2013 has incorporated a statistical element to the traditional surveying of players and coaches to choose the award winners.

(All winners/leaders listed below are on one common Google XLS here. Listed are the winners of the GGs, Fielding Bibles, and then the leaders in each league by position of these Defensive stats: UZR/150, DRS, FRAA, and Total Zone. I haven’t gone into the various definitions and pros/cons of these stats; I have a planned off-season defensive statistical overview post where I’ll go into greater detail).

First off, if you believe that the Fielding Bible panel has picked the best possible awardees, then you’ll be happy to note that every Fielding Bible award winner also received a Gold Glove this year. Here’s the Fielding Bible winners by position for 2013:

As you’ll see below by looking at the various defensive metrics out there, most of the Gold Glove winners were merited. In fact, there only seems to be one egregiously bad selection here (which we’ll get to below). Nearly every other winner was at the top of one or more of the advanced metrics available by position for his league:

UZR/150 leaders per league (again, with Fielding Bible winners bolded):

Pos

AL UZR/150

NL UZR/150

C

1B

Mike Napoli, BOS

Anthony Rizzo, CHC

2B

Ben Zobrist, TBR

Darwin Barney, CHC

SS

Yunel Escobar, TBR

Andrelton Simmons ATL

3B

Manny Machado, BAL

Juan Uribe, LAD

LF

David Murphy, TEX

Starling Marte, PIT

CF

Colby Rasmus, TOR

A.J. Pollack, ARI

RF

Shane Victorino, BOS

Gerardo Parra, ARI

P

Defensive Runs Saved leaders per league:

Pos

AL DRS

NL DRS

C

Salvador Perez, KC

Wellington Castillo, CHC

1B

Mike Napoli, BOS

Anthony Rizzo, CHC

2B

Dustin Pedroia, BOS

Darwin Barney, CHC

SS

Pedro Florimon, MIN

Andrelton Simmons, ATL

3B

Manny Machado, BAL

Nolan Arenado, COL

LF

Alex Gordon, KC

Starling Marte, PIT

CF

Leonys Martin, TEX

Carlos Gomez, MIL

RF

Shane Victorino, BOS

Gerardo Parra, ARI

P

FRAA Leaders per league:

Pos

AL FRAA

NL FRAA

C

1B

Eric Hosmer, KC

Paul Goldschmidt, ARI

2B

Ian Kinsler, TEX

Donovan Solano, MIA

SS

Nick Franklin, SEA

Andrelton Simmons, ATL

3B

Manny Machado, BAL

Nolan Arenado, COL

LF

Andy Dirks, DET

Carl Crawford, LAD

CF

Alejandro De Aza, CWS

Brandon Barnes, HOU

RF

Shane Victorino, BOS

Hunter Pence, SF

P

R.A. Dickey, TOR

Andrew Cashner, SD

And lastly here’s the Total Zone Total Fielding leaders:

Pos

AL Total Zone Total Fielding

NL Total Zone Total Fielding

C

Matt Wieters, BAL

Yadier Molina, STL

1B

Mike Napoli, BOS

Paul Goldschmidt, ARI

2B

Dustin Pedroia, BOS

Brandon Phillips, CIN

SS

Jayson Nix, NYY

Andrelton Simmons, ATL

3B

Manny Machado, BAL

Juan Uribe, LAD

LF

Alex Gordon, KC

Chris Heisey, CIN

CF

Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS

Denard Span, WAS

RF

Shane Victorino, BOS

Norichika Aoki, MIL

P

R.A. Dickey, TOR

Patrick Corbin, ARI

So, after looking at all these leaders, lets talk a bit about the Gold Gloves and ask ourselves whether they did a good job representing the best defenders this year. Position by position:

Catcher: Salvator Perez is as good an AL pick as any; the only other AL catcher in the mix is Matt Weiters. On the NL side, Jadier Molina has earned his reputation and backs it up on the metrics side. His only challenger being the little known Wellington Castillo from Chicago.

1st Base: Hosmer and Goldschmidt seem as good of picks as any; only Mike Napoli and Anthony Rizzo seemed close in either league. Napoli may have been a better pick than Hosmer on the weight of the evidence.

2nd Base: There’s several decent candidates who were not honored, but I don’t think anyone is arguing vehimently against either Pedroia or Phillips as the winners. Darwin Barney may be the most egreiged candidate.

Shortstop: the amazing Andrelton Simmons led every possible statistical category; there was no chance he was losing. J. J. Hardy‘s selection wasn’t bad per se, but as you can see from the above tables four different AL shortstops led each of the four statistical measures. None of them was Hardy though, making you wonder if his gold glove was slightly on reputation.

3rd Base: One day Manny Machado will move back to short (maybe) and challenge Simmons for the title of “Best Shortstop in the Game.” But for now he has to settle for easily being the best defensive 3B in the game. As with Simmons, Machado led every possible defensive measure at his position. On the NL side, the choice of Nolan Arenado was a sound one, with only Juan Uribe really challenging him. Thankfully the award didn’t go to someone like David Wright or our own Ryan Zimmerman based on reputation.

Left Field: Alex Gordon was a sound choice; the NL choice of Carlos Gonzalez may have been a disservice to one Starling Marte. However, picking individual positions for the OF is somewhat tough, especially for the corners. Fangraphs lists RF winner Gerardo Parra as a left-fielder for some reason.

Center Field: Carlos Gomez is a great pick (and is one of the reasons I posted my “Why no MVP support for Gomez” post in this space, which by the way, got almost no reaction from the readership…). Adam Jones was nearly dead last in some of these range metrics and unfortunately has gotten this award via reputation (and his arm; still one of the best) as opposed to performance. Jones is clearly the “Derek Jeter” of 2013, and the voters really erred badly on his selection. Its hard for me to say who I would have preferred; Jacoby Ellsbury is the biggest name among the four guys who led the four different defensive numbers, but Ellsbury’s arm is weak (nearly last of any CF in the league) and a better candidate would have been Leonys Martin.

Right Field: Gerardo Parra and Shane Victorino are the leading candidates for their leagues and both selections are warranted. I know that Hunter Pence led the NL in FRAA, but his arm is awful (one of the worst of any RF in the league), so that has to count against him. In fact, Victorino was as good as or better than Parra in most of these metrics (with the exception of Arm; Parra has one of the better arms in the league). I’m guessing its arm strength that tipped the Fielding Bible balance to Parra.

—

Conclusion: I think the Gold Gloves did a pretty good job in 2013 of identifying the best overall defenders at each position. With one significant exception (Adam Jones). I think its time the sportswriters who have been purposely ignoring the awards come back into the fold.

My standard disclaimer; this is a whole huge post kvetching about my 2013 Fantasy Baseball team. If you don’t play fantasy, feel free to skip this 3,000 word missive. I’ll insert a “jump” line here so that RSS readers don’t have to see this whole massive post

I read a quickie piece with some Mike Rizzo quotes from the Washington Time’s beat reporter Amanda Comak on November 11th, 2012 and there was an interesting tidbit at the bottom: per Comak, Rizzo has not been approached yet about any Washington Nationals participation in the WBC, but would approach each request on a “case-by-case basis” to determine what is in the best interests of the team. This got me thinking about possible Nats representatives on 2013 WBC teams.

Lets take a quick look at the Nationals representatives on WBC teams from the past, talk about whether its really in the best interests of the team to even let these guys play, and then talk about who may be candidates for the 2013 WBC regardless.

The tournament was marred for the team by a blown UCL ligament to Ayala, who had undergone elbow surgery earlier in the off-season but pitched for his home country anyway. The team did not want Ayala to participate in the inaugural event, did not want him used by the Mexican team, and team officials were “livid” by the injury, which cost Ayala the season and cost the team its 8th inning setup guy. Ayala recovered to pitch again in 2008 but was never as effective, and was shipped out in 2009 for a PTBNL. Coincidentally, I suspect the team still harbors some ill-will towards Ayala to this day. Meanwhile the other two relievers who participated both experienced regressions in form; Cordero’s ERA nearly doubled (from 1.82 to 3.19) from his breakout 2005 season while Majewski’s numbers dipped slightly before he was traded in the big Cincinnati deal of 2006.

The WBC seemed to energize particularly Dunn, who enjoyed playing in a post-season atmosphere for the first (and only) time in his career. Nobody suffered any injuries, but Hanrahan in particular may have been affected by his lack of a proper spring training; he posted a 7.71 ERA for the team while losing the closer spot and was shipped to Pittsburgh. Ironically, Rivera also experienced a huge regression of form, going from a 3.96 ERA in 2008 to a 6.10 ERA in 2009 and was eventually released.

This begs the question; do we even WANT our pitchers playing on this team? The first two WBCs have shown pretty distinctly that our pitchers have regressed greatly after playing. This only makes sense: the spring training routines are greatly impacted to play in this event. We may see a ton of front-office resistance to specific guys (especially those coming off injury) playing in the 2013 event. Which could affect the eligibility of some specific players for 2013.

Now, which Nats may play for the 2013 teams? First off, looking at the Nationals 40-man roster, we have become an amazingly heavy USA-born team (we’ll get to non-40man roster players in a moment). Thanks to the Nats big board resource (originated by Brian Oliver and now maintained by “SpringfieldFan”), which has the country of origin for players, here’s a breakdown of the home-country of our current 36 active (as of November 15th, 2012) roster players:

As you can see, the massive bulk of our team is USA born, and essentially our entire post-season starting roster was USA born as well. That doesn’t necessarily mean that these USA-born players will actually play for team USA (Alex Rodriguez played for Puerto Rico despite being born and raised in Miami, and our own Danny Espinosa is eligible to play for Mexico by virtue of his first-generation born in the US status), but almost all of these guys will be up for consideration for the USA team. And this only accounts for our 40-man players; as we’ll see below there’s plenty of lower-minors players from smaller countries that will participate.

Who from the Nationals franchise may make a 2013 WBC roster? First off, thanks to James Wagner‘s 11/15/12 NatsJournal post we already know of three WBC participants; Solano is on the Columbian team, minor leaguer Jimmy Van Ostrand is on the Canadian team, and A-ball catcher Adrian Nieto is on the Spanish team. Curacao qualifies to play with the Netherlands, and I’d guess that Bernadina would make a great choice considering the lack of Dutch players in baseball (Baseball Continuum’s projections agree. And as of 12/4/12 he’s officially been listed as a Netherlands participant).. Venezuela is already qualified for the main draw and has a relatively strong possible team. The Baseball Continuum blog posted an early projection of the Venezuelan team and listed Flores as a likely participant (specifically mentioning that Ramos wasn’t considered due to injury recovery; I’d suspect these two players to switch based on Ramos’ recovery and Flores’ awful 2012). If Henry Rodriguez was healthy i’d guess he would be on that list too, but his season-ending surgery probably precludes his participation. The Dominican Republic has perhaps the strongest depth and has no need for the recently called up Perez among its outfield depth. Maya’s defection eliminates him from discussion for the Cuban team. (12/4/12 update): Chien-Ming Wanghas been announced as a member of Chinese Taipei’s team (for the purposes of this article I investigated all 2012 Nats).

Which leaves our large contingent of American players. A couple of writers have started postulating on these rosters (David Schoenfield‘s very early guess as to a potential USA roster is here, Baseball Continuum’s latest projection is here). So using these two posts as a starting point, lets go position-by-position and give some thoughts as to who may get some consideration. Keep in mind the WBC rosters are generally very reliever heavy, since no starter is going to be “allowed” to pitch a complete game in March.

(Note: I’m still considering our Free Agents as “Nats players” for the purposes of this analysis, since this really goes position by position from our 2012 team to find candidates).

Catcher:Kurt Suzuki isn’t nearly in the class of the likes of Buster Posey, Brian McCann, Joe Mauer, or Matt Weiters. There are a ton of quality american backstops right now.

First Base: Free Agent Adam LaRoche probably faces far too much competition from the likes of Prince Fielder, Paul Konerko, Adam Dunn, Allen Craig, Eric Hosmer, and Mark Teixeira to make this team. If it were me, I’d go with Fielder and Teixeira. But, LaRoche’s great 2012 season and his Gold Glove recognition may get him a spot. He is a FA though, so i’d guess he won’t commit until he signs and gets the go-ahead from his new team. Or, perhaps he uses the WBC to showcase himself? Not likely needed; he should sign long before the WBC kicks off in March.

Second Base: Danny Espinosa is a decent player, but not in the same league as Shoenfield’s projection of Dustin Pedroia and Ben Zobrist. Brandon Phillips is also in the mix for the team.

Shortstop: Ian Desmond‘s breakout 2013 season may get him some consideration. There’s not a lot of American quality short stops out there. Troy Tulowitzki is the obvious leading choice (as was Derek Jeter in the first two WBCs), but is he ready to come back from injury? Looking around the majors there are a couple other possibilities (JJ Hardy, Brendan Ryan, Jimmy Rollins and Brandon Crawford all could be alternatives as well). I think Desmond’s combination of offense and defense, combined with Tulowitzki’s injury recovery could get him on the team.

Third Base: Ryan Zimmerman cannot break the hegomony of David Wright and Evan Longoria right now, even given Longoria’s injury struggles this season. Chase Headley and David Freese are also in the 3b mix. 12/4/12 update: Apparently Wright is committed, Longoria is out due to injury recovery and Headley “was not asked,” so perhaps Zimmerman is back in the mix.

Outfielders: I think Bryce Harper is a natural to make this team, not only on talent but also because of the brand-name recognition (and TV ratings and fan interest) it would generate. Same goes for Mike Trout. Otherwise there’s a slew of top-end american players who can man the outfield and they read like the top of the MVP boards: Braun, Kemp, McCutchen, Stanton, Hamilton, and Granderson are all candidates to make this team. 12/6/12 update: Scott Boras has stated that Harper will skip the WBC to focus on his sophomore season.

Starters: The two logical Nats candidates to be considered would be Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg. But lets be honest; there is no way in hell Strasburg would be allowed to play. Could Gonzalez make this team? Given the depth of American starter talent right now (just off the top of my head: Verlander, Lincecum, Cain, Hamels, Halladay, Kershaw, Lee, Weaver, Sabathia, Medlen, and so on) perhaps this will be a selection of attrition moreso than a selection of availability. So if a number of the older guys on this list beg out, perhaps Gio gets his shot. The WBC’s location in San Francisco has already lead to Ryan Vogelsong committing to play in his home town, and could lead to other Bay Area players signing up. I’m not sure any of the rest of our starters are really candidates, given the reputations of the above list plus the reliever-heavy nature of the roster.

Relievers: our two most well known relievers (Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen) are possibilities; would the Nats block Storen based on his 2012 injury? Craig Stammen‘s breakout 2012 season could get him looks, based on the reliever-heavy needs of the team. Normally Sean Burnett may be in the loogy mix, but there’s better lefty relievers out there AND Burnett’s FA status may lead him to bow out to curry favor to his new team (Schoenfeld lists Burnett as a possible member back in July, before knowing he’s declared free agency). The question is, would you take Clippard/Storen against the likes of this list of quality american back-of-the-bullpen arms: Kimbrel, Ventors, Marshall, League, Janssen, Papelbon, Hanrahan, Motte, Boggs, Bailey, Reed, and Nathan? Possibly, considering that a lot of these guys probably bow out. We’ve sent multiple relievers to each of the past two WBCs and its likely going to be the same thing this year.

Summary: here’s my guesses as to which Nats (and recent ex-Nats) will play in the WBC:

March 2013 update: here’s the post-WBC actual list of participants when all was said and done, helped by the list of rosters via Wikipedia. MLB reports that nine (9) Nationals are participating in the classic, though the below list (excluding Wang) totals more. They’re not counting Solano/Columbia, having lost in the preliminaries.

I swear, I wasn't looking for the obvious pun photo of Prince Fielder eating. Photo: The Onion

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that Prince Fielder is looking for a 9 figure contract, that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of suitors for him, and that he keeps being linked to the Washington Nationals, despite sources saying we’re not interested.

So I thought to myself; what *really* is the market for Fielder right now? Who wants, or more importantly needs, a big-money, big-time hitting, trip-over-his-feet defending at first base Fielder? Here’s each of the 30 teams organized into categories to help get some clarity:

1. Teams that have long-term, major money commitments to established 1B stars, right now.

These teams are absolutely not in the market for Fielder. Team and current 1B:

Boston: Adrian Gonzalez

Chicago WS: Konerko/Dunn

Detroit: Miguel Cabrera

LA Angels: Albert Pujols

Minnesota: Justin Morneau

NY Yankees: Mark Teixeira

Cincinnati: Joey Votto

Colorado: Todd Helton (not that he’s a major committment, but he did just re-sign thru 2013).

Miami: Gaby Sanchez (not really a major star, but he was a 2011 all-star and is pre-arbitration)

Philadelphia: Ryan Howard

You could quibble with the selection of Miami as not being in the market; after all they were throwing money at Pujols and have committed something in the range of $165M in heavily back-loaded contracts already this off-season. But I havn’t read a single sentence indicating any interest with Fielder.

You could slightly quibble with Colorado, but if so I’ll say that Colorado also falls into one of the “No” categories below. Read on.

2. Teams that are so bad, right now, that I couldn’t imagine Fielder actually going there

Baltimore

Baltimore. That’s it. Anyone that signs in Baltimore is essentially saying, “I want to play for the worst organization in baseball and guarantee myself 5th place finishes for the entirety of my contract.” Who would possibly go to play there unless they’re a lower-tier FA who wants to guarantee himself a starting job? Such a shame; this was the highest payroll team in the game in the mid 90s. We talk about how Bud Selig needs to take away the Mets … how about forcing Angelos to sell this former jewel franchise to someone who actually wants to see them win?

3. Teams that are aren’t in the market for financial reasons

LA Dodgers

NY Mets

SF Giants

St. Louis

Obviously the situation with the Dodgers and Mets prevents them from doing such a franchise-altering commitment. Plus both teams have half-way decent options playing at 1B for them now (James Loney and Ike Davis). The Giants were at $118M in 2011 and seem tapped out; they have $84M committed prior to their Arb cases, including a potentially record-setting arbitration case with Tim Lincecum. They’ll easily be above $100M once these cases are said and done. Lastly St. Louis: if they were willing to pay $25M/year, they would have re-signed Pujols. So clearly they’ve reached a financial threshold themselves.

I’d also put Colorado in this category; they aren’t exactly a small-market team but they also don’t seem like they’re in the mood to increase payroll $25M/year.

4. Teams that have waved the white flag and are in 100% rebuilding mode

Oakland

Houston

Both these teams should be obvious just by their mention. Oakland is going to try to field a $20M payroll team, and Houston has bottomed out and clearly is starting over.

5. Teams that have big-name prospects currently installed at 1B and who don’t seem like they’re in the market

Cleveland (Matt LaPorta); also arguably in the “Small Market” category

Kansas City (Eric Hosmer); also in the “Small Market” category

Seattle (Justin Smoak); also in the “Teams that are really bad” category

Atlanta (Freddie Freeman): also in the “Teams that are tapped out financially” category

San Diego (Yonder Alonso); also in the “Small market” category

Chicago Cubs (Anthony Rizzo): probably more in the “rebuilding mode” category; Epstein likes Rizzo, just re-acquired him and I’d be shocked if they blocked him by getting Fielder.

Most of these teams could fit into multiple categories. Lots of rumors out there saying that Seattle is a natural landing spot for Fielder but I don’t see it: Smoak is the reason Seattle agreed to trade Cliff Lee, and you don’t just give up on guys like that. Meanwhile Seattle is now miles behind their divisional rivals and may not compete for a decade. Why would Fielder go there?

Meanwhile, the Cubs seem like an interesting case. NL team, NL central team, storied name. But they didn’t hire Theo Epstein to just make the leap; their ownership clearly realized that their franchise was on the downside both at the MLB level and in the farm system. Bad contracts, bad clubhouse. They’re rebuilding for a renewed run in a few year’s time.

6. Small Market teams that certainly don’t seem to be in the market for a $25M/year player

Tampa Bay

Arizona

Milwaukee (else he’d be looking at re-signing there)

Pittsburgh

All these teams seem to be pretty self-explanatory. Maybe Arizona gets into the market, but they’ve gone to great pains to lose payroll, paring it down to just $56M last year while somehow winning the division. Their highest paid player in 2011 was just $5.8M. A $25M/year guy doesn’t fit with their team.

So, after all that, Here’s the teams Left: This is the actual Market for Fielder, right now. Teams listed with their current starting 1B

Texas: Mitch Moreland

Toronto: Adam Lind

Washington: Adam LaRoche

And here’s arguments for and against each team:

Pro Texas: they are getting a massive amount of money influx in. They may or may not win the Yu Darvish sweepstakes, meaning they may or may not have an “extra” $120M or so sitting around in a couple weeks. Moreland isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire and wouldn’t be an impediment.

Con Texas: They don’t NEED more offense; they’ve bashed their way to two consecutive AL pennants by having an offense ranked in the top 3 in pretty much every category. They had a guy who hit 29 homers batting 7th for them in the off-season (Nelson Cruz).

Pro Toronto: they have payroll room. They can let Fielder DH some of the time. They have a good young pitching staff they can build on. Lind hit 26 homers but isn’t blocking them from acquiring someone better. They do need to improve their offense and he’d fit naturally behind Jose Bautista, giving him even better pitches to turn on.

Con Toronto: they’re the 4th best team in the AL East and havn’t made the playoffs since the Wild Card era. What makes you think they’re going to catch the 3 teams above them, no matter how much they spend? This has to come into Fielder’s thought process, doesn’t it? They also don’t have the pitching right now to really compete in the AL East, having traded away their main studs for prospects in recent years.

Con Washington: he can’t DH. We’d be lighting the $8M we owe to LaRoche on fire. He doesn’t fit Rizzo’s pro-defense concept of finding players. He may expose a payroll ceiling that the team hasn’t broached before, resulting in the team possibly losing franchise players in the future because “we can’t afford them.”

In the end though, if Texas signs Darvish I’d think they’d be out of the running. And Toronto hasn’t really shown an inclination to spend Fielder kinds of money, and seem more in a rebuilding phase than a “go for it now” phase.

Which means the Fielder market may be …. just Washington.

What do you think? Are there any teams besides Texas, Toronto and the Nats that are *really* in the conversation? Or is Boras negotiating against himself right now?

Here’s a wrap up of the end of season awards. I posted my predictions here (albeit without MLB comeback player of the year predictions, since those came out very early in the off-season).

Final results: For the 2nd year running, I went 8-for-8 in predicting the BBWAA awards. But I will say this; predicting these awards going forward will be more difficult, as more modern baseball writers will depend more and more on advanced stats to decided these awards. Meanwhile, I was only 1-for-4 in predicting the Sporting News “unofficial” award add-ons for GM and Comeback player (and I pretty much disagree with all I was wrong about :-).

AL MVP: Verlander as predicted. Not because I think he’s the MVP (see my rant about Pitchers winning the MVP here), but because he won the voting. I think this kind of winner will gradually fade as more modern, stats-aware voters pour into the BBWAA and start “improving” the vote. The same goes for Cy Youngs as well; see commentary for the NL Cy Young award. That being said, this voter’s explanation perfectly sums up what I would have guessed would have happened. And this guy, who voted Michael Young first, Verlander 2nd, Ellsbury 5th and Bautista 7th should really have his voting credentials questioned.

AL Cy Young: no surprise on the winner, or 2nd or 3rd place really. I was surprised that Josh Beckett didn’t fare better. Perhaps it was because of his injury later in the season. His WAR should have put him in the top 5.

AL Rookie: Again, no surprise winner here. Hellickson proved his value with a sparkling 2010 late season call-up, just as Matt Moore did this year for Tampa. This award looked to be Michael Pineda‘s at the all-star break. He finishes 5th.

AL Manager: Maddon won pretty handily; no surprise here.

AL Comeback Player of the Year: when you put Ellsbury’s season into context, he certainly out-performed any reasonable expectation of his abilities. He wasn’t exactly a slouch in 2009, but he certainly wasn’t a 30-home run talent either. I guessed Colon just based on the fact that he was basically out of baseball before the Yankees signed him.

AL Executive: Perhaps the voters have tired of the tight-rope act going on in Tampa. Dombrowski’s FA signings were sublime, but his mid-season trade for Doug Fister probably won over the voters, who watched the Tigers improve 14 games and win the AL Central. I question the award though; Detroit already had a massive payroll and established players in most positions. Tampa made the playoffs in a year they slashed payroll by 40% in the AL east.

NL MVP: another award that will be roundly criticized by Sabre-nerds, since Kemp had a slightly better statistical season. However I agree 100% with Mark Zuckerman‘s reasoning. The MVP is the best player on a playoff team, unless a player on a non-playoff team has an other-worldly season.

NL Cy Young: Even I was surprised at the overwhelming win; 27 of 32 first place votes. Halladay the easy 2nd place winner, though we’re bound to hear stat-heads whining that Halladay had the more impactful season. Interesting that Ian Kennedy garnered one first place vote; thankfully it didn’t factor into any of the eventual results, because anyone who thought Kennedy’s season was better than the first three pitchers was crazy. I think the Kershaw vote was predictable if only because Halladay already has a Cy Young to his credit, and voters wanted to give the award to someone new. Predictably, Keith Lawvoted against the majority in a major award category, as he’s done the past few years. I say predictably because Law represents the stat-heavy minded voter that, while probably correct in their voting way, does not represent the majority of current voters and thus made the predictability of this award relatively straight forward. Here’s Amanda Comak‘s vote and explanation.

NL Rookie: Again, no surprise that Kimbrel won unanimously, as most older voters notoriously over-rate closers. But there wasn’t a better choice than Kimbrel after his dominant season. Atlanta shows how good a franchise they have been in developing talent lately with 1st and 2nd place in this competition, to go with the excellent Brandon Beachy. Watch out next year for Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino to be early ROY candidates.

NL Comeback Player: No offense to Berkman’s incredible offensive season, but its not as if he was exactly chopped liver prior to 2011. Vogelsong hadn’t appeared in the majors since 2006! Vogelsong was one of this year’s great feel-good stories, stuck in the minors for years and then putting up a fantastic season covering for the injured Barry Zito at the age of 33. The players showed why they can’t be trusted to vote properly; Vogelsong is the definition of a comeback player.

NL Executive: Melvin’s all-in approach for 2011 worked, and he was rewarded for it.

Justin Verlander’s season is one for the ages. Will it net him both a Cy Young and an MVP? Photo unknown origin via rumorsandrants.com

Last year (not to pat myself on the back or anything) but I went 8 for 8 in predicting the end-of-season awards for MLB. In 2010 though, most of the major awards were relatively straightforward, even the Managers of the year being pretty obvious, so perhaps it wasn’t that great of a feat.

Here’s my predictions for 2011. There’s been enough discussion about these awards in the media, with enough differing opinions, that its going to be interesting to see how this plays out. This time through, there’s enough controversy about who really “deserves” the two MVP awards that I’ll be offering up some distinctions between who I think will win and who really should win. I wonder if sometime soon we won’t have to make that distinction.

AL MVP: Who I think will win: Justin Verlander. In a year where none of the four playoff contending teams really had a break-out candidate, I think the voters will give it to a pitcher for the first time in 25 years. I don’t agree with it: I don’t think pitchers should be eligible for MVPs (a topic for a future blog-post), but Verlander’s season was clearly a step ahead of the normal pitcher’s season. As for Jacoby Ellsbury, his 30/30 season and his single-handed effort to drag his team into the post season almost earned him the nod, but when Boston missed the playoffs I’m guessing Ellsbury’s candidacy took a nose dive as well. Curtis Granderson‘s fade in the 2nd half after a blistering first half costs him, despite a fantastic season overall. Adrian Gonzalez also started out w/ a monster first half, but faded down the stretch. Jose Bautista would get more consideration if he was playing for a better team. Miguel Cabrera quietly had a fantastic season but he’s completely overshadowed on his own team by Verlander’s great season. Who really should win? Batista if his team was relevant at all. He was clearly the best AL offensive player this year and put up historic stats. But, the modern MVP isn’t about guys who toil in the 2nd division. If they wanted to give the equivalent of a “Cy Young” to the “best hitter” in the league, Batista would be the winner hands down. The definition of the MVP comes into consideration yet again. Who probably would have won if his team didn’t collapse and miss the playoffs? Ellsbury.

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, with a no-hitter and dominance day-in and day-out, first to 20 wins and the pitching triple crown. Jered Weaver, Josh Beckett get some 2nd place consideration (despite Beckett’s late season injury and subsequent beer and chicken distractions). James Shields became a new pitcher in 2011 and could get some top 5 votes. CC Sabathia will get votes since wins play so heavily. Felix Hernandez won’t get the votes he got last year. CJ Wilson had a great season leading Texas to back-to-back titles; thankfully for him the voting for this award came in prior to his post-season meltdowns.

AL Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellicksonhad wins and a great ERA and should be the pick. Michael Pineda looked like a lock until fading in the 2nd half, but Hellickson’s toiling on the East Coast (media bias) and in the AL East (legitimately more difficult than the teams Pineda normally faced) gives him the nod. Mark Trumbo put up some comparisons to Wally Pipp for Los Angeles and gives the Angels another big bat going into 2012. Jordan Walden (closer for the Angels) had a fine season. Ivan Nova quietly put his name into the mix with a 16-win season. Justin Smoak, perhaps Dustin Ackley, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow could get mentions. Zack Britton started strong but disappeared in the 2nd half. There’s so many good candidates this year, the voting may be pretty close, and any of the above names could get some top-5 votes. But Hellickson should be the winner.

AL Mgr: Joe Maddon‘s magic show of a managing job, with a completely new bullpen, huge loss of talent and nearly halving of his team’s payroll from the 2010 version of the Rays yet still sneaking into the playoffs should be your winner. Manny Acta, who had the Indians in playoff position for a bit after last year’s 93-loss season in the first half, gets some consideration. You could mention the job Ron Washington did to get his team back to the WS despite losing his ace pitcher.

(Unofficial “award”): AL GM: This award begins and ends with Andrew Friedman, who had the Rays in the playoffs with a payroll 1/5th of his competition. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Dombrowski in Detroit gets some credit for trades that paid off well, and Daniels in Texas gets some longer term credit for continuing to build a good young team.

NL MVP:Who I think will win: Ryan Braunled his team to the playoffs and overshadowed his cleanup hitter down the stretch. Matt Kemp hit the cover off the ball all season but his team went nowhere during the season of the McCourts, and there’s little precedent for players from the 2nd division winning the MVP unless they have an outer-world season. Jose Reyes had a great (contract) year, but his team is faltering and he was hurt by injuries. And, his little ploy to guarantee the batting title on the season’s final day certainly turned off some BBWAA members. Andrew McCutchen had a breakout season but the Pirates swoon will cost him. Lance Berkman will get some consideration but will be difficult to select since he’s (arguably) the 3rd best player on his own team. Prince Fielder also had a monster year and could take votes away from Braun, but without a clear candidate in the competition I’m guessing Fielder comes in 3rd. Justin Upton came out of nowhere (as did his team) to put his name in the discusion and likely is a top-5 finisher. Who really should win?Kemp clearly, but for the same reasons Batista won’t win, neither will Kemp.

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershawwon the NL pitching “triple crown” (Technically, he tied for the league-lead in wins with 21) for a team with a losing record on the year. That’s tough to do. Roy Halladay, having his typical dominant year with 6 CGs at the break, certainly deserves the award but i’m guessing voters want to reward someone new. Cliff Lee isn’t having a half-bad season either. Cole Hamels and Jair Jurrjens should be in this conversation but tailed off in the latter part of the season. Ian Kennedy should get some 4th and 5th place votes for his fantastic season, finishing 21-4 for the surprising NL West winning Diamondbacks.

NL Rookie: Craig Kimbrel, who broke the rookie-save record before the all star break and is one of the top closers in the game right now will win despite what people may think about saves and reliever value. Freddie Freeman is in the conversation. Phillies starter Vance Worley has come out of nowhere to go 9-1 to start the 2nd half. The Atlanta rookies (including Brandon Beachy) could go 1-2-3. Hometown candidates Danny Espinosa and Wilson Ramos certainly deserves some notice and may get a few 5th place votes here and there, but you can’t hit .230 and expect to win the ROY award.

NL Mgr: Kirk Gibsonin Arizona for a worst-to-first turn around. Clint Hurdle of Pittsburgh, with his 2010-worst team over .500 at the all star break is 2nd.

(unofficial award) NL GM: Milwaukee’s Doug Melvinwheeled and dealt his prospects into two front-line starters and a first place team out of last year’s 77-win team. You can also give some credit to Towers in Arizona (though a lot of the work there was due to his predecessor).

Thoughts? There’s plenty of opinion pieces out there with these predictions, though most were published at the end of the season. Get ready for two weeks of award over-analysis as these awards are given out by the BBWAA starting November 14th.